Posted on 08/09/2005 8:14:24 AM PDT by jb6
In a Hollywood blockbuster, the Russian orbital station "Mir," having fallen into the Pacific Ocean, threatens mankind with a terrible virus that it has brought in from the space.
It is interesting that in 2001 a similar chilling plot moved from science fiction to the news. Shortly before the Russian space pride found its last resort in the Pacific waters, both Russian and western media started to scare their readers with the frightening reports about "the Mir danger." The alarm was caused by nothing else but. . . a virus!
To be more precise--viruses. And some other tiny organisms that occupied the station while it carried out its space duty. The character of these creatures was as malicious as the galactic monsters of science fiction.
According to the specialists from the Russian Academic Institute of Micro-Biological Problems, which took part in the Mir space research, the first microorganisms--bacteria and fungi--were found right after the station was placed into the orbit 16 years ago. They were carried on board together with the space cargo. Although both the space shuttles and the cargo had to undergo a thorough anti-bacterial test, complete sterilization was impossible.
Throughout Mir's life in space, the number of microorganisms grew continuously, one generation replacing another every 20-30 minutes. If in 1990 there were registered 94 species, in 2001 they numbered 140. But the real problem was not the species increasing in number but their growing aggressiveness: each new generation seemed to be more ferocious than the last.
Although the people who worked on the station suffered no serious harm (at least, if we believe the Russian Space Committee's official statements), the uninvited guests still gave the cosmonauts a lot of trouble.
Penetrating into every single corner of the station, they showed an enormous appetite and demonstrated their capacity to eat up even highly durable materials. A vivid example of the bacteria's' "outrage" is illustrated by what happened to the window of a transportation spacecraft that docked to Mir when piloted by its last crew. Some time after docking, the cosmonauts' attention was drawn to the rapidly deteriorating window glass. It was covered by a strange film, spreading "as quickly as in the horror movies," and became absolutely non-transparent.
The test results raised the researchers' eyebrows. It turned out the quartz glass and the titan, which framed it, were damaged by a large colony of bacteria. As experts explained later, these microorganisms exuded a metabolism product--an acid so strong that it could easily corrode the window the creatures had settled on.
Besides this case, which rightfully belongs in the microbiology textbooks, the little angry bacteria more than once ate up the metallic casing and destroyed the equipment on board the station. Their next victim was the control panel of a communication device, in which the parasites devoured the whole insulation. When the astronauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov sent the device down to the earth, one could see that it was entirely green inside!
These dangerous activities of the Mir microorganisms worried specialists. In the spring of 2001, about a month before it was clear that Mir would come crashing down to Earth, a press representative of Russia's Microbiological Institute Dmitry Malashenkov, in his interview with the newspaper Gazeta.Ru. put it straightforwardly that he did not know how the bacteria would behave after Mir's re-entry. He also confirmed that they posed a danger to the integrity of the station's hull.
Not less alarming were the rumors about 94 kinds of Mir bacteria being pathogenic and able to cause human diseases. This information contradicted claims by Russian scientific authorities. Yet some foreign experts, among them the Italian microbiologist Mario Pizzura, overtly accused the Russians of concealing the outbreaks of infectious diseases among the Mir crews.
In the meantime, unlike the level of threat the bacteria posed to the humans, the reason behind their aggressiveness presently raises no doubt.
Space mutations. Nothing else could change the descendants of the terrestrial microorganisms into sinister "metal eaters." Staying inside the orbital station and on its exterior and being exposed to radioactive space rays and sun flashes, their genetic changes went out-of-control.
Thus, it appeared Mir was attacked by mutes. Just like in another thriller.
But even more intriguing were the revelations of Russian space crewmember Anatoly Serebrov, who confessed that it was not merely microorganisms, which underwent mutations. Several Russian newspapers referred to him saying he had also seen mutating worms. "When one of the station's devices failed and I set to dissembling it, I found there a yellow worm more than a meter long& I have not seen anything of the kind on the Earth," Serebrov said.
On March 23, 2001 the glorious Mir station came to its end. However, the concerns around its mutating creatures have not ended. Scientists fear that once in the ocean, the Mir's changed bacteria may cause (and may have already caused!) negative changes in the Earth biosphere.
These allegations gave rise to a series of sensational news pieces last year. The stories held that, having come into contact with the local terrestrial species, the "space mutes" would start eating plastic, metal and glass and emit poisonous exhalations.
In an effort to claim these apprehensions, skeptics have held that any harmful substances would be burned to a crisp when the Mir fell through the Earth's atmosphere. The "alarmists" still keep saying that, being extremely tenacious of life, the mutes could not be killed by the high temperatures.
Pouring oil on the flames was the comment by the Deputy Director of the Russian Academic Institute of Astronomy, Boris Shustov, who, sharing his opinion with a Gazeta.Ru correspondent, said the high velocity of the falling Mir did not let its temperatures reach the point that microorganisms would start to disintegrate. As an example, the astrophysicist cited the case of a meteorite that fell in India in the mid-1950s. When the locals came upon the site, they saw a huge piece of ice.This would indicate that whatever was inside Mir at re-entry could well be preserved, too, said the scientist.
His colleague from the same academic establishment, Anatoly Mikisha, added that one could hardly make precise temperature calculations concerning each specific part of the station. Mikisha also stressed that there are well-known kinds of bacteria, which can live even in the volcano craters. The temperatures on "Mir" must have been lower, he said.
Anyway, nobody has given a definite answer as to what eventually occurred to the weird inhabitants of the Russian orbital station once it came to rest on the Pacific seabed. The experts merely advised that one should better not try to find the Mir's remains and steer clear from the area where it might be located.
But who knows, maybe one of these days the issue of the Mir mutes will once again make headlines. And in the process make a Hollywood scenario reality
B.S.
Very quietly...
Titan must be a new element. Who writes this stuff?
Isn't this redundant? There is no sound in a vaccuum...
As most Freepers already know, evolution occurs only in space, or in strange environments -- never on earth.
Is this some new breed of dog?
In space, no one can hear you scream.
Did they not wash their hands before boarding?
Three words:
Your weapons are useless against them. ;^)
I say we take off and nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
A step away from being attacked by mimes. The horror!
Though deadly, the mute is a minor and more passive branch of the vicious mime family of preditors. Luckly there were no mimes on board or the stations would have been forced down early on.
Yes Johnny! There are monsters under the bed!
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||
Now that the Zvezda service module has
docked and the International Space Station will soon be habitable, a growing number of cosmonauts and astronauts could soon face a new threat -- space fungus.During a recent mission,
Mir crew members noticed that the view from the station's porthole was deteriorating due to an unknown film that was spreading like some horror-movie scum. |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
 |
|||||
"During 20 years of research, the IBMP scientists have discovered up to 250 species of microorganisms which live inside manned spacecraft, including fungi and bacteria."
The porthole was examined carefully after the crew returned to Earth, with the results shocking researchers and engineers. Although the porthole and other windows were made of extra-hard quartz glass and mounted on titanium covered with enamel, they were partly destroyed by a colony of fungi and bacteria visible to the naked eye.
A communications device on Mir was damaged by space fungi during the 24th main mission. Engineers later learned that the fungi also damaged electronic equipment on Mir, including a control block for a communications device used on the outpost from 1997 to 1998 during the 24th main mission to Mir. The microorganisms crept under the steel cover of the block and sat on electrical contacts and polyurethane pieces. As a result, parts of copper cables located nearby also were oxidized. Subsistence for the microorganisms was certainly not the metal, glass and plastic of those devices, said Natalia Novikova, a deputy chief of the Department at the Institute of Biomedical Problems ( "They consume organic stuff which consists of skin epithelia, lipids and other products of human activity," Novikova said. "These products get into the station atmosphere from human breath, sweat etc.…and stick to the station’s surfaces." "Bacteria and fungi eat this stuff and generate products of metabolism, particularly organic acids which can corrode steel, glass and plastic." A mysterious strain The IBMP has been on the trail of space microorganisms since 1980, when the crew of the fifth main mission to the former Soviet Union's Samples of this deposit were delivered to Earth. Having examined them, IBMP researchers determined that the deposit was left by Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium. The unwelcome visitors made it to the Salyut 7 station as well. In 1985, the crew members of the last mission to this station were alarmed by fungi destroying the inner plastic surfaces of panels covering the walls of the orbital outpost. ~ "During 20 years of research, the IBMP scientists have discovered up to 250 species of microorganisms which live inside manned spacecraft, including fungi and bacteria," said Elena Deshevaya, an IBMP researcher. "107 species of fungi were found onboard Mir. The most frequently met fungus is Penicillium chrysogenum." More fungi from beyond Not only do space microorganisms thrive inside spaceships, but they actually procreate there. Some fungi found inside Mir in 1995 were descendants of the fungi discovered in the station in 1988, Novikova said. "All the space microorganisms found inside spaceships originated on This is not the case, however. Microorganisms in space significantly mutate. One of the reasons for their mutation could be the level of radiation on Mir, which is 500 times more intense than on Earth. "Fungi and bacteria are dormant for a number of years and than suddenly become active. Then they may become passive again, but overall their aggressiveness exceeds this of the same type of microorganisms on Earth," said Novikova. "We don’t know what triggers their activation in space," Novikova said. "Based on some observations we can say that the older the plastic is, the more likely it will be used by microorganisms as their feeding ground. They also become more aggressive after the increase of solar activity." Storing fungi All the samples of space-grown microorganisms brought back to Earth are kept at IBMP in sealed ampoules stored in safe places. "We don’t know how they will behave if they get back into regular Earth conditions," Novikova said. There is one more reason, however, for keeping space mutants in specially secured places. "If you take a space-grown microorganism which used metal as a part of its habitat and keep cultivating it by increasing the content of metal in its habitat, you can potentially get a destructive biological weapon which will literally ‘eat’ arms," said Novikova. Preventing future outbreaks A number of precautionary measures have been taken to minimize the risk of spacecraft contamination. All cargo destined to go to a space station is carefully disinfected. A spacecraft is often filled with a gas mixture of ethylene oxide with methyl chloride that is lethal to microorganisms. A few days before launch, public access to cosmonauts is severely restricted to avoid possible transfer of microbes to the crew. During flight, the crew vacuum-cleans the station once every two weeks and wipes the outpost’s surfaces with special wet disinfecting cleaners. Mir also has a special equipment that cleans the station's atmosphere of microorganisms. IBMP also has developed "Fungistat" which has proved to be an effective killer of fungi.
A metabolic product of space fungus created a small hollow in this aluminum piece of space equipment Such precautions bring their fruits. "None of Mir crew members has ever got any infectious disease in space," stressed Deshevaya. But even the most effective disinfecting measures, like filling spacecraft with an extremely toxic gas mixture, do not kill all the fungi and bacteria. "Microorganisms get inside plastic where this mixture cannot reach them. Than at some point during flight, the contaminated plastic just emits its inhabitants into the station’s atmosphere," said Novikova. It came from the United States The upcoming international operations on the ISS present extra challenges for microbiologists. "Space-shuttle crews brought some microorganisms to Mir which had not been found aboard the station before, particularly Penicillium expansum," Novikova said. "This is quite natural, taking into consideration the peculiarities of [the] U.S.' environment. There is a greater variety of fungi and bacteria in a warm climate than in a cold one, like in Russia." Novikova totally agrees with the strict "Regular and relatively harmless microbes can dramatically change their characteristics in extraterrestrial conditions. For this reason the Russians thoroughly decontaminated the Mars 96 spacecraft before sending it to Mars," said Novikova Deshevaya said that decontamination was done for the sake of future human missions to Mars. "We don’t want future Mars voyagers to bring back to Earth mutated microorganisms which could pose a potential threat to humanity," she said. "With the International Space Station and future human mission to Mars in view," Novikova said, "it is especially important to study space microbiology."
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
 |
You beat me to it. This scare-nario came up long before MIR, in 1971, when Michael Chrichton's bestseller was made into a movie. A thoroughly chilling movie, I might add.
Where is Steve McQueen with some liquid nitrogen when you need him?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
advertisement
